Military council blamed for clashes

Cairo For decades, the Muslim Brotherhood ran a shadowy underground Islamic movement in Egypt. Now, one of its leaders, Mohammad Morsi, is a frontrunner in the country's forthcoming presidential election.

Morsi, a conservative Islamist, warned in an interview with the Sunday Times that a series of "devilish arrangements" had been put in place to derail the elections.

Speaking at an ornately furnished villa in a middle-class Cairo suburb, the leader of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party criticised the country's military rulers. He said they had failed to control clashes that killed up to 20 people and injured nearly 200 outside the defence ministry in Cairo last week, just three weeks before polling on May 23 and 24.

"People have a right to protest peacefully without being attacked," Morsi said.

"We place full responsibility for this incident on the military council."

Pattern in killings

Listing a spate of incidents over the past year, including riots in Cairo, the killing of 28 protesters during clashes over the demolition of a Coptic church and the deaths of at least 74 people at a football match in Port Said, Morsi said a pattern of "systematic killing" had emerged with the aim of postponing the elections.

"There are some who are seeking to delay our journey towards democracy and the transfer to civilian rule," he said. "The ruling military council is to blame even if it has no direct hand in these events. It is responsible because it is governing the country."

The Brotherhood has adopted a tougher attitude towards the military in recent weeks, putting paid to speculation about a possible power-sharing deal.

The army has denied it has any plans to postpone the elections and said last week it was committed to a transfer of power by the end of June.

Fierce clashes broke out again outside the defence ministry on Friday as thousands of protesters who had marched to Abbasiya Square fought battles with the military police.

The army responded to the protesters' stone-throwing with water cannon, tear gas and gunfire. A soldier was killed and 373 people were injured in the most violent clashes in months between protesters and the military.

Morsi, 60, an engineer with a doctorate from the University of Southern California, is seen as less charismatic than the Brotherhood's first choice, Khairat Al Shater, a businessman who was disqualified for a past criminal conviction.

Morsi faces strong competition from Amr Mousa, 75, head of the Arab League until June 2011, who spent a decade as foreign minister in Hosni Mubarak's government until 2001. Morsi also faces Abdul Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former Brotherhood member who was boosted last week when, he was backed by the hardline Salafist Al Nour party, splitting the Islamist vote.

Campaign strategy: Toning down rhetoric

Morsi is seen as the most conservative candidate in the race and has campaigned for a stricter Islamic agenda inside the Brotherhood.

In 2007, he was in charge of drafting the group's manifesto. It called for women and non-Muslims to be barred from the presidency and for a council of Muslim scholars to advise parliament.

He now adopts a more moderate tone, speaking of a "national democratic modern civic state" with legislation based on the principles of sharia, Islamic law. He insisted it would not be imposed on Christians.

Morsi has also toned down his rhetoric on Israel. He now says he would agree to stick to the Camp David peace agreement as long as Israel respects its side of the deal. "Any lack of respect will be very harmful for Israel," he warned. "Egypt is a very big state, a country of 90 million, no one can dare threaten it militarily, economically or politically. Threats will not be tolerated."